Financial Goals for the New Year

nvelez28 · December 2011

Hi everyone!

FI and I are saving for some big trips [southeast Asia!] and our home. I love learning about investing and saving and have taken a lot away from DVRing Suze Orman [love her jackets!], reading her books, and listening to money podcasts, but there's so much in this area I'm in the dark about.

What are your money goals for 2012? Besides your friends and family, where do you find financial wisdom?

MMRoberts11 · December 2011

I'll be moving in 2012 and obviously having the wedding so there will be some big bills in our future but we are planning on doing it debt free and so far we are on track. My FI and I are going to continue saving for each as well as saving just in general for the future.

I get my financial wisdom from two of my uncles about stocks (he loves the stock market and has done really well on it), a few of my friends in general, and one of my friends and my FI's uncle about taxes since they both are full time accountants that primarily do taxes. Beyond that, I read a lot.

HarperBargo · December 2011

Both FI and I have have a financial planner. My financial planner takes care of my retirement and helps me to invest funds for that. Both FI and I have really started working with his financial planner with everything else. I get most of my advice from my dad. He taught me the value of saving and investing wisely.

For 2012 our big purchases will be wedding and our travels (so far we Costa Rica, Turkey, and Vancouver planned). We both love to travel and have a big budget and savings just for that. I highly recommend looking into the loaylity programs, we saved a lot of money by using those.

kaitlyn142 · December 2011

My goal is to pay off at least $10000 in student loans next year. That's how much we paid off this year, so I want to match it, as well as establish a $5000 emergency fund (currently is at $1000).

I get my financial news from Bloomberg radio. I am a crazy person who prefers talk radio to music. Tom and Ken in the morning are my favorite way to start the day. I also hang out on Get Rich Slowly blog and forums. Lots of smart people there.

Zimsgirl · December 2011

My dad was a financial planner so I go to him for all of my questions. The only reason he's not one anymore is because he was employed by our uncle and our family had a big falling out and our uncle fired him. My goal is to get my $3000 in credit card debt paid off by end of march. I'm not worried about finances for the wedding because we have our whole budget for it in a separate account. Once I get my credit card debt paid off, I wanna start getting more in savings. I work commission so what I put in savings will be determined when I get my numbers.

chelseakopperud · December 2011

Our goals are pretty simple.... save enough to pay for the wedding without going into debt (we are right on track currently), do not incur any credit card debt (we pay them over every month currently), after the wedding, start building up our emergency fund to 15% of our combined incomes (we are close right now). Once we sell my house we will be in a much better place, so our goals are really to just get by until the house is sold and not go into "bad" debt (credit cards, wedding debt) between now and then.

Cassandra999 · December 2011

I'm using a combination of Dave Ramsey and Suze Orman theories. I love watching Suze Orman when people call in asking if they should buy things. It's hilaroious! you know she is almost always going to say no! I listened to a couple of her books on cd. it really gets me motiviated to get on the right track. There are also some young money blogs I read sometimes. These are my mid to long term goals.

1. Pay off credit card debt

2. 6 months pay in emergency fund

3. Max out roth IRA contributions

4. Max out 401k contributions

5. Pay off car

6. Pay down mortgage

KrisKenny · December 2011

We have a laundry list of goals for 2012

-pay for wedding/honeymoon without going into debt
-pay off my credit cards from the past (FI doesn't have any, lucky him)
-renovate the house - kitchen, bathroom, and 2 bedrooms on the upper floor.

nvelez28 · December 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2012-weddings_financial-goals-new-year?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:3ae4d68d-f10a-4dec-8810-da13c14a7b86Discussion:d7fba6c0-e2f0-48fb-b1de-d1342652f120Post:30dc9053-a3b1-43f2-afb3-651db51e6298">Re: Financial Goals for the New Year</a>:
[QUOTE]I'll be moving in 2012 and obviously having the wedding so there will be some big bills in our future but we are planning on doing it debt free and so far we are on track. My FI and I are going to continue saving for each as well as saving just in general for the future. I get my financial wisdom from two of my uncles about stocks (he loves the stock market and has done really well on it), a few of my friends in general, and one of my friends and my FI's uncle about taxes since they both are full time accountants that primarily do taxes. Beyond that, I read a lot.
Posted by MMRoberts11[/QUOTE]

<div>What books do you recommend?</div>

MMRoberts11 · December 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2012-weddings_financial-goals-new-year?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:3ae4d68d-f10a-4dec-8810-da13c14a7b86Discussion:d7fba6c0-e2f0-48fb-b1de-d1342652f120Post:24e2b601-73b4-49ba-b5d7-8533845ae97c">Re: Financial Goals for the New Year</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Financial Goals for the New Year : What books do you recommend?
Posted by nvelez28[/QUOTE]

It's actually mostly magazine articles that I read though I have read a few books. The names right now though are not coming to me.

doeie04 · December 2011

My financial goals for 2012 is to keep my spending where it is now for stuff that isn't bills. I will have my debt paid off at the end of February (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and will be able to save about $300-$400 a month after that. We are looking for a used car that we will pay cash for. (We almost bought one today, but they were ripping us off for our trade ins, so we walked.) Other than that, we will be putting as much into savings as we can for our future. We will hopefully be pregnant, so our savings will help with that.

My favorite money type blog is thesimpledollar.com . He talks about other stuff too. I found that I knew how to get my finances in order, but I just couldn't get myself to do it. When I started reading his blog, stuff just clicked. Not only finances, but getting rid of a bunch of crap that is cluttering up your life and costing you money due to wasted space. (Like needing a bigger house or renting a storage space.)

Shanee18 · December 2011

Our big financial goals are to buy a starter home and build up credit. (I pay all of my CC bills every month; however, I just found out about having 3 open lines of credit. I am a one CC type of girl, so even though I manage my money well, I guess my score could go up with establishing three lines...news to me!) Fi does not even have a CC yet, haha.

I am really pretty fabulous at managing my money; Fi, on the other hand is not. My dad taught me awesome values growing up (basically save, save, save) and Fi's parents always struggled financially due to some poor spending habits. Over the years it has been a struggle to teach Fi the money-managing ways of Shan, but he is starting to get it. I also learned about managing money from my years in the financial world; I worked with and interned as a financial advisor, so I know more info than a regular 26 year old probably would. I have a Roth IRA which I hope to start contributing to again now that grad school is over.

ETA: I will definitely be checking out those financial people some of you talked about! Never heard the names, but apparently they have good advice!

Zimsgirl · December 2011

Shanee, I have 3 credit cards and student loans. I don't pay them all off at a time but do multiple payments a month and more than the minimum. I thought I'd have a crappy score but mine's actually really good. One card is a VS one and I only use it to buy bras/underwear when I need it and I always get deals for having the card so I never have a high balance on that

Shanee18 · December 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2012-weddings_financial-goals-new-year?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:3ae4d68d-f10a-4dec-8810-da13c14a7b86Discussion:d7fba6c0-e2f0-48fb-b1de-d1342652f120Post:6287abaa-a12e-4554-912c-d9512421e426">Re: Financial Goals for the New Year</a>:
[QUOTE]Shanee, I have 3 credit cards and student loans. I don't pay them all off at a time but do multiple payments a month and more than the minimum. I thought I'd have a crappy score but mine's actually really good. One card is a VS one and I only use it to buy bras/underwear when I need it and I always get deals for having the card so I never have a high balance on that
Posted by Zimsgirl[/QUOTE]

<div>I used to have 2 CCs. One was my everything card and one was specifically for gas because they gave me 5% back. Well, they changed the deal and so I cancelled it. I wish I had known about open lines of credit! I just recently got a new cc issued to me and will probably use that here and there just for the credit purpose....although now that you mention the VS card, I wish I had thought to get a Kohl's card for the perks they mail! </div><div>
</div><div>Now if only I could figure out a third line...</div>

jaime10285 · December 2011

Fi and I are really good about saving. We really don't buy much beyond food, gas, and bills. We are saving for a house and won't look for one until we have 20% for a down payment plus an extra $10,000-$20,000 in the bank as an emergency fund. We are about half way to our ultimate goal (emergency fund and 20% for house). FI just got a new, much higher paying job so we think it will be entirely possible to buy a house in the next year.

I want to learn more about investment options. My parents and grandparents invested well and that's how we've paid for college and such.

Ash61612 · December 2011

I was actually thinking of this on the way home today.

I would really like to get most of my credit card debt paid off. I was really close this year but it's so expensive living alone and had to put some things on my credit cards. Grr.

RKPugs · December 2011

Our goal is to pay off our credit card debt...which is managable if we stop eating out and buying unnecessary things.

Have a large emergency fund.

Have the money upfront for me to finish graduate school. I'm halfway done and haven't taken out any loans yet and don't want to in the future.

Start putting money away for a house even though we won't sell/move out of my condo for atleast 5 years.

jennOK · December 2011

To build an emergency fund and save for a down payment on a new home.

goodine11 · December 2011

My FI and I have both been working off paying our credit cards at least one by the wedding date. We both have two credit cards. I am the saver in the relationship so, I am working on him to save more. Regardless of my bills, I always pay myself.

I have a home that I am renting out. So we will not buy a house until a year after the marriage. ( Renting my house out).

I also, will be working on starting a bussiness after the wedding. My am a Special Education Cooridinator. I love working with people diagnosis with Autsim, so I am working with the Maryland Autism Waiver to supply services with my independent business.

I get my wisdom, from my mother and aunt which are both well off independent of a mate.

Zimsgirl · December 2011

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2012-weddings_financial-goals-new-year?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:3ae4d68d-f10a-4dec-8810-da13c14a7b86Discussion:d7fba6c0-e2f0-48fb-b1de-d1342652f120Post:8644d9e0-54c2-478c-bcef-41e5e6645499">Re: Financial Goals for the New Year</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Financial Goals for the New Year : I used to have 2 CCs. One was my everything card and one was specifically for gas because they gave me 5% back. Well, they changed the deal and so I cancelled it. I wish I had known about open lines of credit! I just recently got a new cc issued to me and will probably use that here and there just for the credit purpose....although now that you mention the VS card, I wish I had thought to get a Kohl's card for the perks they mail! Now if only I could figure out a third line...
Posted by Shanee18[/QUOTE]
Are you a student? I have a student card from Discover and love it. There's no interest for a year (got it in like July), 5% cashback on different things during periods, and they have really great customer service. I changed my card design because they emailed me and I was like yeah I'm sick of the daisy I want a cat haha. I'm a dork I know

Shelly527IN · December 2011

FI and I need to stop eating out so much. That wil help save money for sure. Sometimes it seems like we eat out three times a week. Once should be plenty. My job is as a Title One Math coach at an elementary school so I'm not certain that I will have a job next school year. We will be getting a new principal and superintendent. My current principal said she's going to reccommend that they keep me since it's normally a two year position at least.

The wedding is being paid out of my savings/earnings. FI offered to help, but I said he could pay for his tux and groomsmens tuxes (if they can't) and the honeymoon. He spent way too much on my enagaement ring, so I can't ask him to pay for the wedding too since I'm the one who wants the details.

FI own his own car repair business and wants to make improvemnts to it. We also have do some remodelling ot my house where we will live. Right now 6'3 FI has to lean over to take a shower in the basement so putting a shower on the main floor is a priorty.

I like to watch Dave Ramsey,Suze Orman, and teh show that comes on after Suze called Til Debt Do Us Part.

Financial Goals for the New Year

Re: Financial Goals for the New Year

Choose Another Board

Search Boards